Nerissa POV
We arrived at Obsidian Keep before sunrise.
The fortress appeared through the mountain tree line.
Dark stone catching the first pale light of early morning. Torches burning at the gate.
Renn slowed his horse on the approach road.
The gate wolves saw us before we reached them.
I watched their posture change when they recognized the Obsidian insignia on Renn's coat. Then their eyes moved to me.
The gate opened and we rode through.
Renn kept his word.
He dismounted and handed his horse to a stable wolf and looked at me with those grey-templed eyes of his.
"I'll wait here," he said simply.
"Thank you," I said.
I handed my horse off and crossed the courtyard toward the entrance steps.
The fortress was in its early morning rhythm.
A wolf I knew from the inner patrol
